United States HR 6099: Equal Treatment of Faith-Based Organizations Act of 2020

Bill Text

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116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 6099
To ensure equal treatment of faith-based organizations participating in pro-
grams of the Department of Health and Human Services, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 5, 2020
Mr. BUDD (for himself, Mr. LATTA, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. NOR-
MAN, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. LAMBORN, Mrs. HARTZLER,
Mr. BABIN, Mr. BANKS, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr.
MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. KELLY of
Pennsylvania, Mr. MURPHY of North Carolina, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr.
WALBERG, Mr. CLINE, Mr. CLOUD, and Mr. ABRAHAM) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education
and Labor, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To ensure equal treatment of faith-based organizations par-
ticipating in programs of the Department of Health and
Human Services, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Treatment of 4
Faith-Based Organizations Act of 2020’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ENSURING THAT ANY RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE 1
OF HHS-FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE APPLY 2
EQUALLY TO FAITH-BASED AND NON-FAITH- 3
BASED ORGANIZATIONS. 4
The Secretary of Health and Human Services— 5
(1) shall not (including by means of any grant 6
document, agreement, covenant, memorandum of un-7
derstanding, policy, or regulation)— 8
(A) require faith-based organizations to 9
provide an assurance or notice as a condition on 10
receipt of financial assistance from the Depart-11
ment of Health and Human Services (in this 12
Act referred to as ‘‘HHS-financial assistance’’) 13
if such assurance or notice is not required of a 14
non-faith-based organization; 15
(B) disqualify faith-based organizations 16
from participating in any program or service of 17
the Department of Health and Human Services 18
because such organizations are motivated or in-19
fluenced by religious faith to provide social 20
services, or because of their religious affiliation 21
or exercise; or 22
(C) otherwise apply any requirement or re-23
striction on the use of HHS-financial assistance 24
to faith-based organizations unless such re-25
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quirement or restriction is applied equally to 1
non-faith-based organizations; and 2
(2) shall prohibit each State or local govern-3
ment administering HHS-financial assistance 4
from— 5
(A) implementing a requirement or restric-6
tion described in paragraph (1)(A) or (1)(C); or 7
(B) disqualifying a faith-based organiza-8
tion as described in paragraph (1)(B). 9
SEC. 3. ENSURING THAT ORGANIZATIONS ARE NOT RE-10
QUIRED TO MAKE CERTAIN REFERRALS TO 11
ALTERNATIVE PROVIDERS. 12
The Secretary of Health and Human Services— 13
(1) shall not (including by means of any grant 14
document, agreement, covenant, memorandum of un-15
derstanding, policy, or regulation) require any orga-16
nization that provides services under a program sup-17
ported by HHS-financial assistance to refer a bene-18
ficiary or prospective beneficiary of the program to 19
an alternative provider if the beneficiary or prospec-20
tive beneficiary objects to the religious character of 21
the organization; and 22
(2) shall prohibit each State or local govern-23
ment administering HHS-financial assistance from 24
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implementing a requirement described in paragraph 1
(1). 2
Æ
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